When they announced that there would be another Robocop film, most people shrugged and went back to their cheerios. The original has a sort of cult appreciation, but we all know how well these reboot/sequel/prequel things go. Even Peter Weller didn't much care when it became clear that he wouldn't be involved. The man is finishing a dissertation in art history at UCLA, so he's got his priorities in order.

There were tantalizing rumors about Aronofsky being involved earlier this year, but he pulled out and left a script behind. That was disappointing of course because Aronofsky's involvement just about guaranteed that the end result would at least be interesting. But on the other hand, his departure frees up his time for something more relevant. I don't have any information on what he's working on, but pretty much by definition it has to be more meaningful than a Robocop sequel.

Director Jose Padilha has taken over the project. He's made a few films in Brazil that have been received well (has anyone in these parts caught Bus 174, or any of the Elite Squad films?) but he had this to say about Aronofsky's script:

I haven't read Aronofsky's script. Aronofsky is a great director. I love his films. I am very proud because I saw Pi in the opening Sundance screening and I loved it. So Aronofsky's great. I have my own take on RoboCop. I know what his take was and it's totally different. It's a different thing, different kind of film, even different period in time so I haven't read his previous work.

I love how he defends not even reading Aronofsky's script by pulling out some sort of hipster card that he liked Aronofsky before anyone knew Aronofsky, so he's allowed to ignore his script. Wait, no, I meant the opposite of "love." Look, I can respect the man taking his own approach to the film, it's got to be that way, but to advertise not even reading the script someone of Aronofsky's caliber put together? Not cool.